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Akai
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The Coldest Hour
Self-Released
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Truth be told, I’ve always loved the playoff between boy/girl singing in indie rock. Whether it’s Velocity Girl, Stars, The Dirty Projectors, or The New Pornographers – I’m usually a big fan. St. Paul MN band Akai easily fall into this category with their second full length entitled The Coldest Hour (Is Just Before the Dawn). The band formed in 2000 by two of its core members and currently sees the line-up expanded to eight members.

A good comparison for this album would be The Arcade Fire at their quietest. “Breath” sees the vocalists trading verses that build into choruses that are then closed with a wonderful trumpet line and a soft choir in the background. “Satellite”, which may be the strongest track on the album, is propelled by solid drumming that would make a marching band leader proud. The druggy “Like You” adds an accordion to the mix and contains the very charming chorus of “I wish I was like you, I want to be liked by you but my tongue has a mind of its own”. The only knock on the album is that the strongest points of Akai’s sound (the play between vocalists, the mournful trumpet, and inventive percussion) are also the weakest points as they can be overused making many songs in the middle of the album sound too similar. Things do pick up towards the end with the more aggressive “Not In My Mind” and “An End Deserving” which take the band’s familiar elements but lets them breathe a bit more.

There is a good chance that The Coldest Hour… will be overshadowed by other more prominent releases this year but if you do happen to come across Akai, do check them out as you won’t be disappointed.